Simultaneous Projects
More Than One Iron in the Fire
Austin Kleon recently published a blog post where he talks about productive procrastination. Often we use procrastination as a way of keep ourselves from doing the work. We distract ourselves so that we don’t have to take creative risks, but Kleon says, “When you get sick of one project, move over to another, and when you’re sick of that one, move back to the project you’ve left.” It’s a simply way to keep the momentum going when you start feeling stuck — you bounce to another idea or another project and you work on it for a while. It’s like a blacksmith having a couple of irons in the fire so that one can heat up while they hammer and shape another.
A Common Misunderstanding
I think there is a misconception that artists, writers, and creatives only work on one thing at a time. Perhaps it grows from our educational system where you tackle one thing at a time before moving on, and most art classes or creative writing classes are often structured where students do one thing all the way through before moving onto something new. But all of the artists, writers, and creatives I know always have more than one thing going on at a time. Something else is always at the ready so that they can switch up and work on something else when they feel stalled or unmotivated.